CATCH


Meaning of CATCH in English

n.

English round, or simple perpetual canon , for three or more unaccompanied voices.

Catches were sung by men as a popular pastime in the 16th–19th centuries. Catch texts were often humorous or ribald, and in some instances a pause in the melody in one voice was filled in by the notes and text of another, creating a pun or change of meaning, especially in the late-17th-century Restoration period.

Britannica Concise Encyclopedia.      Краткая энциклопедия Британика.